Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Long-Legged Fly

  • A Lew Griffin Mystery
  • By: James Sallis
  • Narrated by: G. Valmont Thomas
  • Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (44 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Long-Legged Fly

By: James Sallis
Narrated by: G. Valmont Thomas
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

In steamy New Orleans, black private detective Lew Griffin has taken on a seemingly hopeless missing-person case. The trail takes him through the underbelly of the French Quarter with its bar girls, pimps, and tourist attractions. As his search leads to one violent dead end and then another, Griffin is confronted by the realization that his own life has come to resemble those of the people he is attempting to find.

Waking in a hospital after an alcoholic binge, Griffin finds another chance in a nurse who comes to love him, but again he reverts to his old life in the mean streets among the predators and their prey. When his son vanishes, Griffin searches back through the tangles and tatters of his life, knowing that he must solve his personal mysteries before he can venture after the whereabouts of others.

©1992 James Sallis (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Moth cover art
Bluebottle cover art
Black Hornet cover art
Ghost of a Flea cover art
Out the Window cover art
Small Town cover art
Good Samaritans cover art
Orangutan cover art
We Live in Water cover art
Angel Wings cover art
Hallowed Murder cover art
The Gideon Lowry Key West Mysteries: Box Set cover art
Closing Time cover art
Resume Speed and Other Stories cover art
Deadline cover art
Shoot the Moon cover art

Critic reviews

"Not so much a detective story as a story about a detective...but one that exploits the conventions of the genre with quietly distinctive power." ( Kirkus Reviews)

What listeners say about The Long-Legged Fly

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    19
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A masterpiece with soul

This is a poetic and intelligent masterpiece of Southern blues with lots of great moments. Don’t expect a linear story, it’s a collage of moments and periods. Worth listening several times to get the rhythm.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts

Although ostensibly a detective novel, the Lew Griffin series, of which this is the first, ranges freely across genre boundaries. The books are quirky; sometimes plot driven narrative, sometimes existential meditation, and the result is strangely satisfying. The narrator seems perfectly attuned to his character, which contributes to an unusual, and an unusually enjoyable, listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not for me

I found the book disjointed. and not well suited to audio. It’s a series of vignettes rather than a narrative. Multiple trips to hospital and rehab probably haven’t helped the narrator’s story-telling abilities.. Lew Griffin, the protagonist, is a standard private eye - alcoholic, violent and unable to establish relationships. However, fans of the detective genre won’t find any intriguing problems or characters - just a sequence of sad, dead and empty cases. In the final section the author plays with point of view and adds a literary touch - but not enough and it felt contrived. Occasional bursts of (Cajun?) French don’t add to the atmosphere either.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!